May 14 LIVE REVIEW: Rejjie Snow lights it up @ Capitol

Almost a year ago, I was lying in a dormitory bed in a hostel in Cusco, Peru. I was a little restless, so I found myself scrolling through social media. I opened a friend’s Instagram story and instantly fell in love with what I was seeing and hearing. “Who is this?!” I asked. And that’s when I discovered the one and only Rejjie Snow. I spent the next couple hours enthralled by Rejjie’s genre-blending hip hop beats, his heartfelt and passionate lyrics, and his laid back yet electric style. I couldn’t wait to see him one day, and tonight my dream came true.

The night begun with Rejjie’s support act, Jimothy. The North London rapper has a unique style, with his bedroom pop jams blending low fi beats with witty lyricism. His performance had a light-hearted, laconic and humorous feel, with his latest single ‘Getting Burberry Socks’ and his breakout track ‘Getting Busy!’ proving particularly popular with the audience. He concluded with my personal favourite tune, “I can speak Spanish”, a groovy and blithe song which showcases his above average Spanish speaking skills. He is clearly impressed with his moderate grasp of the language, repeatedly declaring that he can speak Spanish. Whilst I haven’t written a song about my own mediocre Spanish speaking ability, after travelling for almost a year through South America last year, I certainly resonated with his excitable feelings towards spitting a few Spanish bars.

After an intermission, one of Rejjie’s fellow Irishmen did a terrific job hyping the crowd, dropping some powerful Shack Wes and A$AP Rocky tunes and shouting out in his oh so Irish voice, “MAKE SOME NOISE PERTH!”

Naturally, Rejjie’s set begun with ‘Hello’, the first track from his 2018 album Dear Annie. Life is beautiful, and so is Rejjie’s music. ‘Pink Lemonade’, ‘Rainbows’ and ‘23’ continued to showcase his smooth and funky low fi beats and cute choruses, creating a relaxed but spirited ambience.

Even without being there in person, the incredibly beautiful vocals of Dana Williams in ‘Room 27’ and ‘Egyptian Luvr’ combined perfectly with Rejjie’s voice, making you feel as though you were floating away on a dancing cloud of love. Another aspect that makes his last album so lovely is it’s French infusion, with ‘Mon Amour’ combining the lovely sound of birds chirping with low fi beats and Milena Leblanc’scute and captivating vocals. Along with melting tune ‘Désolé’, the French flavour of his performance was the jam in the croissant, as no one ever says.

Rejjie declared that this was the final Dear Annie experience before he releases new material. What a farewell it was to such a gorgeous album. The energy then began to build, with rumbling bass accompanying groovy harmonies in dance-centric tracks ‘Sunny California’, ‘Blakkst Skn’ and my personal favourite, ‘Bye Polar’. Alright, alright alright!

However, the Irish maverick didn’t finish with a track from Dear Annie. With good reason, though. The final song simply had to be the high energy trap fire of ‘Flexin’!’ All of a sudden, the gentle, loving, nature and French-infused atmosphere transformed into an all-out rave, completing a terrific night out on a high. Rejjie is a thriving example of the new wave of conscious rappers. He’s tough but thoughtful, talented, smart, smooth, and oh so '“unbelievably cooool”!

It’ll be great catching him with his new material next time he’s in Perth.

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We dwell for a moment on what it means to come from Albany and I mention the attempts of the local Famers Market to lay claim to her success. “Why not?” she chuckles. ”I think that’s why I sing so loud is because I had to project”. It makes sense that most Farmer’s Markets don’t come equipped with a fully-fledged PA System and fold back, Carla continues reminiscing, “That was such a great place to play – everyone would give me veggies in my guitar case”.